Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem with catastrophic potential. A Task Force co-chaired by the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently addressed this important issue, observing that drug resistant pathogens are a growing menace to all people, regardless of race, age, gender, or socioeconomic background. The Task Force noted that a number of microbes responsible for infections in humans are rapidly developing resistance to existing drugs. For example, according to the Task Force, in the United States alone, up to 30 percent of the Staphylococcus pneumoniae infections (skin, bone, lung, and bloodstream infections) are no longer susceptible to penicillin in some areas. Up to 11 percent of S. pneumoniae are resistant to third generation cephalosporin antibiotics. Significantly, resistance of S. pneumoniae to the fluoroquinolones, a newer class of potent antibiotics, has also been reported.
Exemplified by ciprofloxacin A, the fluoroquinolones are bacterial inhibitors that apparently exert their effect by inhibiting DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV. 
The consequences of antibiotic resistance, particularly fluoroquinolone resistance, can be fatal for some individuals. In a case reported from Denmark, a 62-year-old woman diagnosed with food poisoning from ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella died after undergoing antibiotic treatment using that drug.
The dramatic and lethal emergence of antibiotic resistance typified by this and other reports has spurred the U.S. Task Force to call for the implementation of a public health action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance. As a vital component of that plan, there is a need for the development of new products that will prevent the continued emergence of antibiotic resistance generally, and that will prevent and treat colonization and infection of resistant organisms in patients.